Conventional baby cribs typically include side rails that are made up of top and bottom horizontal bars interconnected by a series of spaced supports (e.g., vertical slats). Frequently, babies and toddlers, while sleeping or playing in their cribs, intentionally or accidentally extend their limbs out of the crib between the slats and have difficulty drawing them back into the crib. If this occurs when the child is sleeping, the extended limbs will remain uncovered and become cold, and the child will be ultimately awakened or harmed. Many cribs also have headboards and footboards (i.e., endboards) that are also made with spaced-apart supports and the baby may also extend its arms or legs out of the crib between these slats.
Although various types of apparatus have been used to prevent such problematic situations (e.g., extension of limbs outside of the crib through the spaced-apart supports), many of such apparatus exhibit their own problems. For example, as described herein, ventilation may be problematic (e.g., such as that leading up to and resulting in suffocation). For example, crib bumpers are widely used in cribs for protecting a child from injury caused by bodily impact of the child against the sides of the crib that define the interior boundary of the crib. However, in many cases, such bumpers do not allow for adequate ventilation, or air flow, within the crib and also obstruct viewing of the child.
Infants usually breathe through their nasal passages. However, during crying or in the event their nasal passages are blocked, infants may breathe through their oral cavities. Mechanical resistance suffocation takes places when respiration is interrupted if these passages are both blocked externally by an object. When respiration is interrupted, CO2 levels in the blood rise. The body's response to this elevation in CO2 levels is to attempt more rigorous respiration. If the agent of suffocation is not removed, the incident may be fatal after two or three minutes. Further, the accumulation of CO2 or other dangerous gases inside the crib or around the infant may be a possible cause of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Existing crib apparatus, such as crib bumpers, tend to trap dangerous gases inside the crib. Further, such apparatus may block the passages of infants under certain circumstances. Therefore, improvements are desirable.
Various types of other crib apparatus have been described and attempt to reduce one or more of the above problems. For example, such apparatus are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,408 to Bashista et al., entitled “Mesh Crib Liner,” issued 16 Mar. 1999; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,573 to Wagner et al., entitled “Ventilation Upgrade Kit for a Crib Bumper and Method of Using It.”